[Gay State Conservative]

Good news for sure.I,for example,have no problem understanding why Christ would want me to abstain from eating meat on Fridays.I'd have a good deal of trouble understanding why He would expect that for my entire life.Same goes for married priests,IMO."Celibacy" on Sundays and Holy Days...understandable.Perhaps during Holy Week as well and even other times as well.But *lifetime* celibacy? During the 50's and 60's I was taught by the nuns that "married love" was a gift from God.Yet priests are denied this gift for their entire lives.

Or at least *most* of them are.Anglican priests in various Western countries (US,Canada,Europe,Australia,etc) who convert to Catholicism and are then allowed to serve as Catholic priests are allowed to be married.So why not *all* priests?

[HiTech RedNeck]

I could see that if a single minister later wished to marry, he ought to be expected to reaffirm his ministry before continuing on after the wedding. Just so that everybody is clear that the marriage is not supervening his idea of his responsibilities for the sake of the Lord.

Singlehood can help Protestant ministers, too, better concentrate on the calling of the Lord. I’ve seen it happen, where the wife passed away unexpectedly and the minister remained an unmarried widower.

There are virtues to being married and virtues to singlehood. There is no need to disparage either condition.

[Seraphicaviary]

Since I was a seminarian, I can assure that there is a very intense program explaining how and why celibacy is a much greater gift than married love. Every man who is ordained knows a long time beforehand the nature of the vow. He has plenty of time to consider it (6 years minimum) before taking that vow. This is because any provable deception, fraud, or misunderstanding on the part of the man taking the vow invalidates the ordination. All the men I saw ordained knew celibacy was a greater gift and embraced it. That is essential for it to be a sacrifice. One leaves behind one good for the sake of obtaining a greater good.

[Elsie]

I,for example,have no problem understanding why Christ would want me to abstain from eating meat on Fridays.

MOre troubling is...

MOM; why did you never have any more children?

[defconw]

Please tell me you know that meat was abstained from, not because it was meat? Same thing goes for celibacy! It's a discipline, entered into willingly.

Sex, sex, sex! Is that really all anyone cares about? I have known people who are not priests, who have lead celibate lives for various reasons. I can not get over the fact that every time this media made issue comes up, the same flock of chirping birds show up here.